February 29, 2012

Are you Moving? Change the address!



Paper Doll Redirects the Mail! (Part 1)


A blog post from Julie Bestry.








About Julie:

Julie Bestry, President of Best Results Organizing in Chattanooga, TN, is a Certified Professional Organizer®, speaker and author. Julie helps overwhelmed individuals and businesses save time and money, reduce stress and increase productivity through new organizational skills and systems.

February 28, 2012

When You Become the Organizer!

I truly believe in the power of living in beautiful and organized homes. I also believe in providing information on how to organize a home or office, allowing someone to become more organized, living in more functional and attractive spaces and ultimately, making their life simpler.


Here you can see how a client, through Virtual Organizing, has organized her home after asking what she could do to improve and organize her bathroom cabinet. She sent me her photos and I sent her all my suggestions and a detailed how-to organize the bathroom cabinet instructions.


I really enjoy the exchange that happens with clients and fans when I am working with them, and as a Virtual Professional Organizer it is even more rewarding to see when a client takes the full project to completion and feels so proud of the results. I love this!


Here are some of her initial photos and as you can see, she could still find everything, but she wanted to have it organized and beautiful! 







And of course, best for last, here are her photos with the result of her work! I am very happy for her, for her taking the project and going through with it and even more, for how she's feeling for having accomplished it!






Helena Alkhas is a Professional Organizer located in San Diego, CA and offers hands-on organizing to local clients and Virtual Organizing to world-wide clients. 

I encourage you to leave your comments and if you feel I can help you with your organizing needs I invite you to contact me at helena@apersonalorganizer.com. Talk with you soon!

February 23, 2012

Organizing the Cords Under Your Desk! The Tools & How-to.

We all love our electronics and our gadgets, but they come with a common annoyance: cords galore!
To tame those little monsters, that get tangled to our feet and collect dust bunnies year round, here are some tricks to have the electronics AND a clean "behind the desk" area.
You can apply this to your work or the mess behind the entertainment center. Organizing it now will keep you sane, when a problem comes up and the last thing you want to deal is unorganized cables.




First things first! Start by unplugging, untangling and then by labeling each of your cables to start organizing the cables. 
If the area on the floor is dirty, now is the time to grab your vacuum cleaner and clean it.






Another very inexpensive solution to label cables comes with your bag of sandwich bread! Yes, those little tags can easily become labels and they attach really well to them.




After you have de-tangled, sorted and labeled all your cords, you want to consolidate them and for that you'll have some options.
- You can simply wrap them together with cable wraps or ties (the ones that you can also use to secure your suitcase) or you can go to a really nice tool, that I love to use. It keeps all your cables nested inside the Cable Zipper and it's really easy to use. 
One advice: start from the end of the cables and with your shorter cable and then gather all the other cables from there. 
Do not cut the Zipper yet. You want to see the length it has to have to fit in the following step. 
Cable Zipper has the labels, but they will fall from your cables. Make sure you use something else.


Once all the cables are organized, you can then, plug them back in to your power strip. Now, you can also get all your cables and the power strip in this practical "home": Cable Box. It comes in two sizes  and in many colors (sorry, the cool colors only for the mini!). Bring your power strip in here, place the easy to handle lid on it and you are ready.




And, because I like options! Here is PlugHub, another way of corralling all the cables under your desk. Product from Frontgate.com








Finally, if you don't like to dig for the cables that fall behind the desk, when you remove, say, your laptop from your desktop, attach these cuties - guys, don't worry, they come in brown, black and white too! They keep all the cables in place and organized, which is so nice and makes for more productive work.


A note: considering you have all your tools in place, you will need from 30 minutes to 1 hour to complete this project.


I hope you feel motivated to organize your cables and share your results with me in the Facebook Page of Helena - A Personal Organizer!



Helena Alkhas is a Professional Organizer located in San Diego, CA and offers hands-on organizing to local clients and Virtual Organizing to world-wide clients. 

I encourage you to leave your comments and if you feel I can help you with your organizing needs I invite you to contact me at helena@apersonalorganizer.com. Talk with you soon!

February 15, 2012

Organizing & Doing the Laundry


Of the many household tasks, doing the laundry seems to be a no-brainer: Put clothes in the washer, add detergent, and press start. But regular washing can take a toll on your garments. Here's how to prevent white shirts from turning gray, sort your bright clothing (hint: you need more than one pile), undo the damage when colors run, and perform many other tricks that will keep your clothes and linens in near-original condition.


How to Keep Whites White
The main reason white items turn gray or become dull is incorrect sorting. People generally have few all-white loads, so they tend to mix whites with colored garments. Unfortunately, some types of fabric, notably cotton, aren't colorfast, so their dye molecules wind up in the wash water and settle on other fabrics, noticeably on white and other light ones. Washing heavily soiled items, such as athletic socks, with lightly soiled ones, such as sheets, can also lead to dinginess. Unless you add enough detergent to hold the dirt in suspension, it will end up back on the very articles you intended to clean. Water quality, too, can affect how your whites emerge from the washer. Iron-laden water and hard water (rich in calcium and magnesium) can render detergents less effective and cause staining.


What To Do
Wash whites separately. The best way to retain whiteness is to launder white items together in the hottest water the fabric will tolerate (water that is at least 120 degrees is most effective at removing soil). Choose detergent with a bleach alternative and/or enzymes, using the maximum amount recommended.


Add a laundry booster. You can increase the cleaning power of a detergent by adding a booster, such as borax, oxygen bleach, or washing soda to help maintain whiteness. Before washing, soak heavily soiled items using an enzyme detergent (available in the laundry aisle of many supermarkets) or oxygen bleach, and launder them separately.


Pretreat body-oil marks. To remove perspiration and other greasy stains, pretreat with liquid detergent, dishwashing liquid, or shampoo (use colorless ones to avoid dye transfer). Gently rub the liquid into the fabric using a clean toothbrush or complexion brush.


Tackle colored stains. Address food spills, such as coffee or juice, and underarm yellowing, which is residue from antiperspirant or deodorant, by applying undiluted liquid oxygen bleach directly to the fabric immediately before laundering.


Use a color remover. Once a month or when your whites become dull, wash them with a color remover (available in the laundry aisle of many supermarkets). Alternatively, soak items in boiling water and oxygen bleach in a basin (this is suitable only for fabrics that won't shrink). You may have to experiment to determine which technique whitens best.


Accept less than perfect. Even with meticulous sorting, don't expect whites to stay fluorescent bright forever. When white fabrics are manufactured, they are often treated with optical brighteners, which are chemicals that boost whiteness. They will eventually wash out and cannot be replaced.


Minerals and water: If your water has a high iron content (look for reddish stains in the shower and toilet), launder with an iron-removing product (available in the laundry aisle of many supermarkets). Don't use chlorine bleach: Combined with iron and hot water, it can yellow clothing. Instead, use oxygen bleach, which is a more effective (and more environmentally friendly) alternative. For hard water (evidenced by rough, hard-to-clean deposits on bathroom fixtures), some detergent labels call for using larger amounts. If your water is particularly hard, you may not be able to get whites pristine unless you install a water softener, which removes minerals.


How to Keep Darks Dark
During the wash cycle, articles of clothing collide with one another and the washer's interior, which causes some of the fibers in the fabric to break, exposing the raw fiber ends. This friction disrupts the surface of the fabric, tricking the eye into seeing less color. Tumble drying can cause similar damage, though to a lesser extent. Also, washing darks in warm or hot water can hasten dye loss. With some fabrics, expect a certain amount of fading; theres no such thing, for instance, as truly colorfast cotton.


What To Do
Wash darks separately. To help preserve dark items' original colors and prevent bleeding onto lighter clothes, wash darks together using the cold-water cycle (60 to 80 degrees).


Use the shortest cycle. Select the appropriate setting depending on how soiled the clothes are and what fabric they're made of. As far as detergents go, experts say that they don't really contribute to fading. While some formulas are designed specifically for darks, any liquid detergent without a bleach alternative is suitable (liquids work better in cold water; powders may not dissolve fully).


Minimize abrasion. Prepare your clothes for the washer by closing zippers, fastening hooks, and turning items inside out. Also, wash items of similar weight together -- that is, don't wash a cashmere sweater and jeans in the same load just because they're dark blue.


Line-dry darks. Whenever possible, hang dark items to dry (out of direct sunlight); this helps maintain their original appearance. When you do use the dryer, opt for the lowest temperature suitable for the material, and be careful not to overdry your clothes. Remove them from the machine as soon as they're dry or even while they're slightly damp; this will help keep shrinkage to a minimum.


Washing in winter: Although cold water helps prevent dark clothing from fading, frigid outdoor temperatures may cause the washer's water temperature to fall below 40 degrees, rendering even detergents designed to work in cold water ineffective. If you live in an area with particularly chilly winters, don't use the cold-water wash setting during that time of year. Instead, select a warm-water wash and a cold rinse.


How to Keep Brights Bright
As with darks, wear and tear in the washer and dryer as well as warm and hot water can cause colors to fade. Deep, bright garments often shed a little dye over time, so some color loss is inevitable.


Separate by color intensity. Launder colored items in two groups: brights and pastels. Wash brand-new brights on their own for the first few cycles, when they're most likely to bleed significant amounts of dye.


Turn items inside out. Keep brights looking good longer by reversing them before washing. Choose the shortest cycle appropriate for the soil level and fabric.


When colors run: Forget soaking your bright fabrics in salt or vinegar to forestall bleeding; it won't help. If brights do bleed onto other clothing in the wash, don't put the stained items in the dryer. The heat will set the dye, making any discoloration permanent. Instead, launder the clothes again separately. As long as you don't apply heat, the dye should come out, even if you don't rewash the items immediately.


From Martha Stewart Living

February 14, 2012


May your Valentine's Day be filled with love and laugh!


Share your day with us and post your pictures and comments.


Big smiles and hugs,


Helena

February 13, 2012

How to Organize Your Papers: Bills!

One of the best ways to save us time and better manage the cash flow of our personal bank accounts is having a plan for our bill payment. Here are steps you can take to make sure all is paid on time, that you won't be looking for your bills to pay them and to get more done!


1 - A big improvement in organizing your papers will happen when you make the decision to pay your bills online, through your online banking system. So, if you have been avoiding it, maybe it's time to review it and just make your life simpler. Enter on your bank website and set up all the bills you want to pay online.


2 - Change the payment dates to the same week, or if you receive your payments every 2 weeks, at least to the same half of the month. You can call all your service providers - like insurance, credit cards and utilities and request for a new payment date.


3 - Most service providers and specially utility companies have a "paperless" option for their bill delivery, so go online, and make sure you select this option. My banking system allows me to sign up to it directly from my online bill payment page. Before you spend time going through each website, check that option and save yourself time! 


4 - Schedule your bill payment through your online banking. Now that you know that all your bills will be paid on the same date/week and that your bills are available online, all you have to do is schedule the payment to be done automatically. To keep yourself on top of things, a couple of days before the due date, you can check each bill online, making sure you're being charged correctly.


Going through these steps will free up your mind and your time to be more creative, to generate more income, to spend time with loved ones and to never again have to hassle with the pile of bills streaming through your mail box again.


On my last post you'll find easy steps on how to cut the junk mail from your life for good! if you are joining us now, make sure you do that too.



Helena Alkhas is a Professional Organizer located in San Diego, CA and offers hands-on organizing to local clients and Virtual Organizing to world-wide clients. 

I encourage you to leave your comments and if you feel I can help you with your organizing needs I invite you to contact me at helena@apersonalorganizer.com. Talk with you soon!

February 7, 2012

Papers, Bills and Junk Mail! How to Organize and Simplify Your Life - 1 of 3

I confess that I love papers and working with them comes easy to me. I love receiving, processing, sorting and filing them in neatly organized and labeled colored files.


I know, I'm a sucker for papers and it has to be the lawyer in me, that enjoys it. However, I recognize that most people dislike it deeply, some aren't good at it and that most homes are flooded by paper, unwanted mail and paying bills is a chore that most dread.


Here are the good news and easy ways to stop mail before it comes into your home, simplify how papers flow and how you pay your bills.


Today let's take care of the worst part of it. Yes, you guessed it right!


Junk Mail

1 - Signing up for "opt-out" services will clear your mail box and your time!


Check the links bellow and sign up for these free services.

  • To opt out for five years: Call toll-free 1-888-5-OPT-OUT (1-888-567-8688) or visit www.optoutprescreen.com. The phone number and website are operated by the major consumer reporting companies.
  • To opt out permanently: You may begin the permanent Opt-Out process online at www.optoutprescreen.com. To complete your request, you must return the signed Permanent Opt-Out Election form, which will be provided after you initiate your online request.
  • Telemarketing To register your phone number or to get information about the registry, visit www.donotcall.gov, or call 1-888-382-1222 from the phone number you want to register.
  • Mail: To register with DMA's Mail Preference Service, go to www.dmachoice.org, or mail your request with a $1 processing fee to:

       DMAchoice
       Direct Marketing Association
       P.O. Box 643
       Carmel, NY 10512
    • However, your registration will not stop mailings from organizations that do not use the DMA's Mail Preference Service.
  • Email: The DMA also has an Email Preference Service (eMPS) to help you reduce unsolicited commercial emails. To opt out of receiving unsolicited commercial email from DMA members, visit www.dmachoice.org. Registration is free and good for six years.

Image: The Container Store

Helena Alkhas is a Professional Organizer located in San Diego, CA and offers hands-on organizing to local clients and Virtual Organizing to world-wide clients. 

I encourage you to leave your comments and if you feel I can help you with your organizing needs I invite you to contact me at helena@apersonalorganizer.com. Talk with you soon!

February 4, 2012

The Container Store Expert Tips & Ideas Lable it!

When organizing your space, make sure you use labels for every category. It makes life easier for everyone using the space, and it's so much fun!
If using The Container Store line, Elfa, here is the link for their downloadable labels! Cute and easy, doesn't get better than that!

The Container Store Expert Tips & Ideas Lable it!